If mid-afternoon naps were a sport my brother would be an Olympic champion 🏆

can it charge from LOW to at least 1BAR just using solar?, without using gps, HR just purely step tracking, thanks..

Hi Jim, thank you for all your quick and helpful replies. I'm afraid I have lost my confidence in the GW9500, even after your recommendation. I have seen reviews which are still highlighting problems with it. I am now considering the Casio G Shock GWG-B1000, This looks a nice watch, though expensive, but unfortunately is still tethered to an iPhone. Many thanks

This is interesting, but I can see the solar charging is very limited. And if it's cloudy the charging time is not very reasonable., especially on this connected fitness watches. So you can't compare this watch to the older solar g-shocks. My gw-9500 mudman is showing high battery level just from normal exposure to light. I regularly use the barometer and the backlight and the battery never dropped to medium level,similar to my older gw9400 rangeman. I like this MIP display but I think it's not that power efficient after all. The conclusion is clear, you have to use the charging cable instead of waiting several days in power saving mode and not using the functions of the watch.

@JimKinkade

4 ай бұрын

Yes. At this point it looks like solar can only charge basic time functions indefinitely. The ABC sensors put a burden on the system that will eventually require the Rangeman to be plugged in. I’ll test it some more to confirm this hypothesis.

@fuloplehel

4 ай бұрын

@@JimKinkade I don't think the ABC sensors are the biggest problem here, because I'm using this sensors on the other solar casio watches. Heart rate monitoring, step counter and software algorithms and GPS use more battery power. Oh and there is Bluetooth on board. Not optimized software can cause problems too. Maybe casio will update the software, and the hardware will be better in the future.

@haohmaro23

4 ай бұрын

​@@fuloplehel yeahh.. I agree with you..

I did a similar test with my Garmin Instinct Solar, and after three hours in sun much like yours, it hadn't budged.

@davidzimmerly7354

4 ай бұрын

Gen 1 solar? I heard the 2x solar is much better

@JimKinkade

4 ай бұрын

That’s good to know. On paper the Instinct Solar is supposed to have better solar charging.

@blackforestghost1

3 ай бұрын

@@JimKinkade He compared sunpower in Germany now, during March, with Texas sun intensity, which is ridiculous!! Sun in Germany is too weak at the moment to charge ANY solar device seriously , wait at least till May.🙄🙄

@blackforestghost1

3 ай бұрын

Du vergleichst ernsthaft die Sonnenintensität nahe der texanischen Wüste, wo Jim lebt, mit der momentanen Sonnenstärke in Deutschland?? Finde den Fehler !😂😵‍💫

@JimKinkade

3 ай бұрын

Ok. That makes sense.

so just a tiny tiny bit for the battery to survive till home 😟

@JimKinkade

4 ай бұрын

One bar is more than enough to get home.

I think this solar panels have very limited abilities and they are mainly to extend a bit the time between charges instead of charge the watch, at least not in a reasonable time. But still it's interetsting to know if it able to sustain or charge very slowly a watch in power save mode. Thanks for yet another interesting video!

@JimKinkade

4 ай бұрын

You’re spot on!

So in a real day to day case just like in your example here once your on low plug her in take a nap and call her good for another week and the sun may pitch in some juice once in a while

@JimKinkade

4 ай бұрын

Yea, that’s a good plan. But I wanted to do a little experiment.

There is another issue with putting the screen on direct sunlight/ultraviolet rays for extended periods. The screen can be damaged giving permanent black spots.

@JimKinkade

4 ай бұрын

That’s a good point. It may be best to charge it by plugging it in.

@prince2132

4 ай бұрын

@@JimKinkade Yes solar assist is not dependable. Tough solar version watches can be run on solar entirely as they get quickly charged too.

Buena amigo,asi puesto en la muñeca te va a costar que suba la carga solar yo en el mío lo pongo detrás de la ventana unas horas y van subiendo solas y me ha llegado a cargar a máximo.(no full) Eso sí recibiendo sol directo o indirecto por muchas horas..Saludos!

@JimKinkade

4 ай бұрын

Thank you, sir! I will try that!

Hi Jim, Your "soft" material test gives me no confidence in the mud/water resistance capabilities. The lack of good solar charging is very disappointing. It looks like I will give this a miss and look for something else. Thanks again for highlighting these considerable weaknesses.

@JimKinkade

4 ай бұрын

Glad I could narrow it down for you. Hopefully you find the watch you’ll like. I really like the GW-9500 Mudman. Take a look at that one.

@terrydavis1488

4 ай бұрын

@@JimKinkade Thanks again Jim for being so helpful.